Facilities: Free car park (no disabled bays). Toilets open Easter to September (including disabled toilets).

Picnic tables. Description: These isolated and mysterious concrete structures are vestiges of inter-war experiments into early warning systems against the possibility of airborne attack. They were never used in wartime as the invention of the radar and the increasing speed of aircraft rendered them obsolete. They stand as testimony to a threat that was expected and finally realised during the Battle of Britain.
HOW TO GET THERE

Battle of Brit ain Tra il

Ac c es s ib le H e r it a ge Tr a ils
Folkestone

Car: via the M20 and the B2011, the start of the trail is 1.5 hours drive from London and 15 minutes from Dover For more information on opening hours etc, see the individual contact details overleaf. Every effort has been made to ensure that all information given in this pack is correct as the time of going to press (Summer 2005). No liability can be accepted by the authors for any loss, damage or injury caused by errors or omissions in this wording.

OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST.

Other available leaflets Kent: Canterbury, Dover, Rochester, Sandwich, Tonbridge, Hythe, Battle of Britain. Nord-Pas de Calais: Bergues, Boulogne, Calais, Cassel, Gravelines, Montreuil. West-Vlaanderen: Ieper, Lo, Menen, Nieuwpoort, Oostende, Veurne.

Kents other main aviation museum is located at Manston on the Isle of Thanet c. 5 km west of Ramsgate. RAF Manston saw action in both World Wars, playing a key role as a fighter station during the Battle of Britain and being attacked on numerous occasions. It was later the base for tests of Barnes-Wallis bouncing bomb and was used as an emergency landing ground for damaged bombers.

The Battle of Britain began in July 1940 and was fought that summer and autumn over the waters of the English Channel, above the fields of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, the streets of busy ports such as Dover and the centre and suburbs of London itself. It was the first all-air battle in history to prove decisive and was undeniably the finest hour of the Royal Air Force and its fighter boys. This trail takes you to various sites and monuments associated with the Battle of Britain in southern Kent. They include museums and memorials, former airfields and aviation sites, as well as to some of the graves of air and ground crew.

Today, the airfield still houses an aviation museum (tel: 01843 825224) which is fully accessible. The museum also has a wheelchair which is available for visitor use. www.rafmanston.co.uk

www.fortifications.org

This leaflet is available in alternative formats. Please telephone: 08458 247 600

www.fortifications.org
Summer 2005

B A T T L E O F B R I T A I N T R A I L - Accessible
Location: c. 500 m west of Capel-le-Ferne on the B2011. Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-leFerne Opening times: 11 am 5 pm 1st April to 30th September. Facilities: Designated car park with disabled parking. Toilets (including disabled toilets). Wheelchair available on request. Light refreshments available. Call 01303 249 292 for more information. Description: The Memorial was opened in 1993 by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. There is a wall of remembrance, a pair of replica fighter planes, an information centre and a viewing area that offers a panorama of the Memorial and views of the channel and the French coast. Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge Description: The airfield was used for tactical reconnaissance sorties during the early stages of the war and then became a forward airfield in the Biggin Hill sector of the no 11 Group. Remains of old airfield buildings and bunkers can be seen by the side of the road. St Stephens Churchyard The Brenzett Aeronautical Museum

H e r i t a g e Tr a i l
Description: The museum is housed in the original Womans Land Army hostel at Brenzett. It houses a collection of memorabilia, aircraft, wartime equipment and aircraft remains recovered from crash sites. Location: The Sound Mirrors are situated at Greatstone-on-Sea near Dungeness. Park in the car park near the coast guard station situated opposite Taylor Road (please do not park in any residential roads). The Sound Mirrors are not accessible but can be viewed from the end of Taylor Road. PTO continued overleaf Greatstone Sound Mirrors

Location: The museum is situated on Ivyvhurch Road in Brenzett just off the main A2070 Ashford to Brenzett road on the Ashford side of the Brenzett roundabout.

Location: The churchyard is situated next to Lympne Castle, south of the village of Lympne. Facilities: Designated car park (no disabled bays). No public facilities. Description: The churchyard contains 8 war graves of pilots, anti-aircraft personnel and others, who died in the lead up to, and during, the Battle of Britain. The peaceful surroundings provide splendid views across Romney Marsh. Newchurch Advanced Landing Ground

Opening times: 11.00 am 5.30 pm Fridays from July to 30th September and weekends and bank holidays from Easter to 31st October. Facilities: Designated car park (no disabled bays). Toilets (no disabled toilets). Wheelchairs available on request. Light refreshments available. Call 01797 344 747 for more information.

ASHFORD/LONDON

CANTERBURY HAWKINGE

A20 DOVER CAPEL-LE-FERNE

Location: Situated on Aerodrome Road in Hawkinge, the museum is about 5 km inland from Folkestone and is signposted off the A260. Opening times: 10 am 5 pm Easter to 30th September. Call 01303 893140 or go to www.kbobm.org/ for more information.

Location: From Lympne return to the B2067 and turn right down Lympne Hill. After 2 km turn right at Botolphs Bridge on to Lower Wall Road and follow c. 8 km to Newchurch.

M20

FOLKESTONE
A2070 B2067 ROYAL MILITARY CANAL LYMPNE

Facilities: Designated car park (no disabled bays). Toilets, but no disabled toilets. Wheelchairs available on request. Light refreshments available. Call 01303 893 140 for more information.

Description: Driving through Newchurch you can see where the airfield used to be situated, north-west of the village. Such airfields were used for emergencies when the main airfields were unserviceable and no permanent buildings were ever built so as to disguise their function. Memorial Stone to Pilot Officer Arthur William Clark

NEWCHURCH

A259

Description: The museum contains the worlds largest collection of Battle of Britain relics and related memorabilia partly housed in original 1940s buildings still bearing the scars of war. Hawkinge was the most used forward airfield in Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. Location: The airfield is now on the site of the industrial park on either side of the B2067, near the entrance to the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park. Facilities: There are no parking or visiting facilities. Lympne Airfield

2km

Location: The memorial stone is situated on the side of the road from Newchurch to St Mary-in-the-Marsh about 1.6 km along on the right-hand side.

BRENZETT A259

Description: Romney Marsh is dotted with crash sites of aircraft from both sides of the Battle. This is symbolised by the Memorial Stone to Pilot Officer Clark of 504 Squadron who was killed in action near the spot on 11th September 1940. He was 20 years old. Items recovered from his hurricane, together with his story, can be seen on display at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge.

B2075

DUNGENESS